[LM_NET] TAR: District-level libraries mandate and type(s) of materials

[Louise Gorvett <Louise.Gorvett@WCDSB.EDU.ON.CA>]

Hello friends,

My school board (district) is in the process of moving its central offices and 
services into a new-to-us building.  As part of this process, there has been some 
discussion as to what role(s) the district-level library should play.  Presently we 
have a central library which has both professional type materials (materials aimed 
at helping teachers better understand their curricular areas,  as well as general 
teaching pedegogy) and curriculum materials (videos and kits which are aimed at 
classroom use).  The central library also assists the 55 or so school libraries 
with cataloging (we have a union catalog), and makes some centralized purchases for 
the school libraries, including access to a number of online databases.

If you have and/or are in a district-level library, I would be interested in your 
thoughts on the best balance between "professional" and "curriculum/classroom 
support"-type materials.  Due to space considerations, it is possible that we will 
need to separate the professional and curriculum materials.  Do you have both 
materials together?  If separate, how do teachers request them?  Are they in a 
union catalog?  What about research requests from consultants/"top brass"?  
Presently our central library is located quite a distance from the main school 
offices; after the move they will be in the same building, and we're unclear about 
what the impact of this might be...

Any thoughts/comments/vents/advice you might have on this topic would be most 
welcome.  I did look through the archives, and found some references to district 
level libraries (especially in Portland, OR) which I have read through.  I wasn't 
sure what search phrases to use, so if you are aware of other phrases I could use 
to expand my archives search, please send those along as well.

I'll post a HIT.

Thanks for your help!




Lou Murray Gorvett
Library Technician
Canadian Martyrs Elementary School
Waterloo Catholic District School Board
Kitchener, Ontario CANADA
Louise.Gorvett@wcdsb.edu.on.ca

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